The state is investigating an attempt to vote in Gearhart’s May election on the $14.5 million firehouse bond measure by a person who died in October 2020.

The registration of 13 voters was challenged during the May election, County Clerk Tracie Krevanko said. Two of those 13 voters had moved.

In August, City Attorney Peter Watts contacted the county with a list of 42 people who allegedly were not residing in the city and had voted in May.

Of the 42, the clerk mailed voter registration challenge letters to 36 voters. Each of the 36 voters provided acceptable documentation, Krevanko said.

Three of the remaining six had replied in May, while two had moved. The sixth was the person who died in October 2020.

“We were provided with an obituary that seemed to show the voter in question was deceased,” Ben Morris, communications director for the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office, said on Oct. 18. “Initial review, however, showed that the birthdate of the voter did not match the birthdate of the deceased person in the obituary.”

The ballot was not counted, Krevanko said. The firehouse bond measure was overwhelmingly rejected by voters.

The state elections division opened an investigation in June.

If there is evidence of a crime, the case will be referred to the U.S. Department of Justice. “To be clear, we have not met that standard yet,” Morris said.

While voters can have multiple residences, they can only have one voting domicile.

According to state law, a person’s residence is where “habitation is fixed and to which, when the person is absent, the person intends to return.”

An elections official may consider where a person registers or licenses motor vehicles, pays for utilities, files tax returns and where immediate family members reside in determining qualification to vote.

The questions about voter registrations have become a campaign issue in the November election for City Council, with supporters of Anne Mesch in Position 1 and Preston Devereaux in Position 3 calling the city’s referrals “voter fraud.” Mesch is challenging City Councilor Dana Gould. Devereaux is running against City Councilor Brent Warren.

Signs at the entrance of Gearhart Elementary School on behalf of Mesch and Devereaux are accompanied by a charge of “city assisted voter suppression” and a plea to “take back Gearhart.”

In public comment at a City Council meeting earlier this month, Mitchell Cogen, an attorney, said he suspected the city of targeting people who voted in a way “the city did not agree with.”

“I am shocked and disgusted to learn that the city itself through the city attorney has taken to actively purge people from the voter rolls,” Cogen said. “I’m especially upset that you tried to purge me and my wife multiple times, first with the state and with the county. Thankfully, despite your best efforts, you failed.”

There has been no evidence of targeting voters because of their political viewpoints or voting record, according to Patty Jo Angelini, a county public affairs officer, and no further voter registration challenges since August.